`Environmental assessment authority to be set up`

New Delhi: The government will set up an environmental assessment and monitoring authority to streamline the process of environmental clearances, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday.

"Preserving our environment even as we develop rapidly is a huge challenge for us. Climate change poses a threat to both our development processes and our natural resources," he said in his Independence Day address.

As the debate over development and environment continues, Manmohan Singh said: "In the coming months we will constitute an environmental assessment and monitoring authority to streamline the process of environmental clearances."

Speaking about the climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, he said: "We have established eight missions on climate change and are working hard to implement these missions.

"We have set up the National Ganga River Basin Authority for the protection and cleaning of river Ganga. We have also established the National Green Tribunal for quick disposal of cases involving environmental issues."